The Pixel 7a is around the corner, but if you don’t care for Google’s series of smartphones, there’s always a Samsung alternative. This week, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy A54 5G, the mid-range follow-up to its Galaxy S flagship series. Like the last two generations of the Galaxy A-series, the Galaxy A54 5G is worth a look if you want a bright AMOLED screen without flagship level prices.
The Galaxy A54 is a mid-sized Android smartphone. It has a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, and while the “super” there means little beyond the screen supposedly having less glare and is in fact a Samsung marketing term relating to where the phone’s touch layer is, that’s still great. The screen’s also got a maximum brightness of 1000 nits in broad daylight, making those summertime Pokémon Go sessions easier to see. It has a whopping 120Hz refresh rate, which isn’t common at the phone’s sub-$500 price point. That higher refresh rate isn’t the best for battery, but it makes for smoother gameplay and UI animations on a small screen. The current Google Pixel 6a release is 60Hz, while rumors say the Pixel 7a caps at 90Hz.
Speaking of battery life, the battery size in the Galaxy A54 remains unchanged from the Galaxy A53. Samsung’s equipping the Galaxy A54 with a 5,000 mAh battery pack. Even with that high refresh rate, the battery will likely impress; last year’s Galaxy A53 lasted nearly 19 hours off the charger.
The processor inside the Galaxy A54 is Samsung’s own 5nm Exynos 1380. It is available with either 6 or 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. For those who like to hoard data, the Galaxy A54 also has a microSD slot for up to 1TB more storage space.
Last-gen’s Galaxy A53 camera was acceptable, but it could have been much more capable in low light. It also needed more finely tuned saturation. The Galaxy A54 has a three-camera system that will hopefully impress. It features a 50-MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 12-MP ultra-wide camera, and a 5-MP macro camera. There’s also a 32-MP front-facing camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
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The Samsung Galaxy A54 costs $450. It will be on sale starting April 6 and come in two colors: Awesome Violet (purple) and Awesome Graphite (black).
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